yusakugo's Full Review: Sony CLIE® PEG-SJ22 Handheld
To keep up with the market and maintain a presence in the medium priced PDA market, Sony took its original T615 model changed the case and cosmetic design as well as unit size... and dubbed it the SJ30. That was nearly a year ago. The unit sold for $299 and sold well for Sony. However, as time continues, a unit with those specs cannot sell at such a high price... so Sony lightened the case color and redubbed the unit SJ-22! Now the unit is a low middle end model and a good value to boot.
This review is similar to my SJ30 review.
The Short Take
The SJ22 is really just a lighter colored SJ30 unit with no true advancements in the hardware side of things. What the SJ22 improves on is the price! At a MRSP of $199 and selling prices significantly lower, the SJ22 is a great price for a color Palm PDA handheld.
The SJ22 follows same casing, look, and style of SJ/SL model line with the exception of the SJ33 model. Therefore, it utilizes any of the accessories for this line of PDAs.
There are a few minor problems with the unit... but overall, there is much to like about the SJ22. For the cost, this is one color PDA that is hard to beat considering that the closest Palm product competing is the m130 which has only 8MB of main memory!
Pros:
1) 16 MB of internal (RAM) memory
2) Memory Stick memory expansion
3) Standard connector used in SJ, T/TG, and NR/NX/NZ Sony PDAs
4) 320x320 Hi-Res screen
5) 65,000 color capable screen
6) Small form factor
7) Palm OS 4.1.x
8) 4 MB ROM memory
9) Bigger scroll and application buttons than T series
10) Replacable Lithium-Ion battery
11) Jog dial and back button
12) Enhanced IR port
13) Decent Software Package
14) Wide Range of Accessories Available or about to be released
15) Decent internal speaker
Cons:
1) Thicker unit
2) Still poor battery life
3) Although IR port is "enhanced" some other handhelds sport better range
4) No included Mac support... must be purchased from third party
5) Cannot upgrade to Palm OS 5 software.
6) I still don't like the stylus
7) Questionable build history of low to mid range models.
8) No cradle included
9) Loss of Documents to Go program from included software
Sample Prices around the US
Prices on the web range from $170-$199. You can purchase the SJ-22 as low as $150 if you have coupons for sites like Staples and the such.
Several people in the hospital are running around with this model.
Details?!
For most purposes, you could look at the hardware description of the T615 CLIE PDA and place that here... you can even put the same review for the SJ30 model here as well. There are a few differences however... the dimensions of the SJ22 are a 4 1/8 (H) x 2 7/8 (L) x 11/16 (D) inches. Those with bigger hands will like the more meaty feeling that the SJ22 provides but it is harder to place the unit in some shirt pockets due to the slightly increased thickness (especially after adding a case!). You'll find the standard items found on Sony CLIE PDAs... like a jog dial, back button, loud mono internal speaker (can supposedly simulate stereo), memory stick slot, and standard connector for the T, NR/NX/NZ, and SJ series handhelds (the universal connector for Sony PDAs). The case color is lighter than the SJ30 case color... it is a light grey.
The screen seems to be based on the T665/NR70 handhelds... a transreflective color screen sporting high resolution. That means the screen can display in 320x320 resolution and should be readable in bright sunlight and similar lighting conditions. Although the screen is easy to read under bright light conditions with the backlight off... the screen is difficult to impossible to read in any other lighting condition without the backlight on. This basically means you need to have the backlight on most of the time you're using the handheld. Flesh tones and reds show especially well on the screen but blues and darker colors are too dark.
This unit sports the standard 33MHz DragonBall processor... so the unit has acceptable computing power but it doesn't have legs against models in the $200+ range. The computing power is enough for basic organizer and word processing functions. The unit has an outstanding 16MB of RAM and a generous 4 MB of ROM. The unit is running the reliable Palm OS 4.1.x with Sony's own enhancements.
The standard 4 application buttons with the scroll rocker are still there and the buttons are easy to press and large in size.
Screen and Colours
Since this screen seems to be based on the T665 and NR70 series PDAs, the color and detail display are quite good. It is no longer the best on Palm OS handhelds but still very competitive with other Palm OS PDAs and with Pocket PC PDAs. Most colors are dead-on accurate although blue based and dark colors colors may be a bit on the darker side. No major problem however.
Screen display is quite crisp and clear especially with the hi-res fonts turned on. Brightness can be adjusted by tapping on the lower left corner of the Graffiti area (It's marked) and it is adjusted via a sliding scale. I found that the lowest setting was still enough for any lighting conditions I was in. The unit is backlit. The Graffiti area is not lighted at all... as usual.
Battery Life
There didn't seem to be any improvements to the battery since the SJ30 model so being the same model, the SJ22 also sucks up battery life like there is no tommorrow. On my SimCity test (the easiest way for me to run battery tests these days), the battery again lasted 5 1/2+ hours! The backlight was at the lowest possible setting.
If you're wondering what the SimCity test is... well, I run SimCity with the no power off feature with the backlight on and the auto-budget feature on. Since SimCity is constantly making calculations in the game and showing different types of movement on the screen in car traffic or air traffic, I considered it fairly intensive as far as Palm programs go. It is CPU and graphics intensive (i.e. PDA need to refresh the screen) when you have a decently established city... not when you start a new one! I let the game run on a fairly established city to build the city's budget and check back every half a hour. It's not scientific or accurate but it works for me!
Recharging the unit is easy... just plug in the adapter (unless you bought a cradle for the unit) and let it charge.
Strangely enough, there is a panel you can unscrew to access the lithium-ion battery. Nice feature but I'm unsure if it will be useful. Interesting touch by Sony there.
Memory Issues
16MB of main RAM is the minimum for mid-range and high end Palm PDAs today... but it isn't a requirement for everyone since basic units tend to have 2 or 8MB of RAM. As for my own Palm PDAs, I need at least 16MB of RAM (on my Tungsten C I've used up a whopping 22 MB of RAM!). Running many of my medical programs like ePocrates Rx ver. 6 takes up a little over 3MB of Palm RAM real estate. I also have Vindigo 2.0 with NYC, Brooklyn, and Middlesex County of NJ installed... another 4 MB of real estate. Johns Hopkins Antibiotic Guide... another 1.5 MB. That just gives you insight into my PDA memory uses. Sony's own preinstalled software that you can't get rid of... gives you 15.9 MB of memory to start with anyway.
To me, the 4MB of ROM add little value... Palm OS 4.1 certainly doesn't use that much space and if there are future 4.x versions, they will not require 4 MB of ROM. Palm OS 4.1 takes up about 2 MB of ROM so you have about 2 MB of ROM space to play with if you purchase third party software to access it. The stuff stored on ROM will not be erased if the unit runs out of power if you forget to recharge it. If you want Palm OS 5, you better buy a unit capable of running it... the Sony SJ22 cannot run it!
Buttons and Jogging
Well, the 4 application buttons and the scroll rocker retain their decent size... the jog dial continues to be a mainstay.
Infrared Enhanced or just marketing jargon?
Well, this is the same blurb I said about the "enhanced" IR port on the Sony handhelds I put in my other Sony PDA reviews. Too bad it still holds.
The people at Sony claim the T415/T615/T665/TG50/NR70/NR70V/NX/NZ models have an enhanced Infrared port... especially with the claim that most models can be used as universal remotes. While units can control basic functions of many brands of A/V equipment... the enhanced IR ports have some other problems associated with them as well.
There are times, beaming applications from your Sony to another Palm handheld will cause problems. The receiving handheld will not pick up the beam... even with other Sony units. These problems can also occur with receiving beams from other Palm PDAs.
A study by the people who made the Omniremote program for Palm PDAs also found that some units outperformed the T415/615 by a vast amount in sending signals to certain A/V equipment. The m500/m505 was found to perform exceding well versus the T415/615... on some equipment, the m500/m505 was able to control it from 50 feet away! The T415/615 max range on the same equipment was 22-24 feet. The 665 doesn't sport any new improvements from the T615 in this area so the enhanced IR is just that... marketing jargon.
Memory Stick
Well, the Bluetooth and Digital Camera memory sticks have been out there for several months now. Margi-to-Go Powerpoint presenter is also available. However, there really isn't a whole lot in the memory stick format.
The memory expansion through the memory stick is not the same as using your main RAM... it is much slower to access and you cannot run programs straight off the memory stick. It must be copied to the SJ22's main RAM and then it is run... thankfully, this is done automatically. Note that you need to have at least the same amount of main RAM free as the size of the program you're running. I would recommend at least 2MB of RAM be kept free at all times. The memory stick format is strictly a format used almost exclusively by Sony (Sansung and Acer have adopted it recently)... so if you have alot of Sony stuff, the memory stick format may be a good choice for you. Other companies are releasing products that can read a memory stick although not write to it (with the exception of flash card reader/writer devices). It seems that the rest of the Palm PDA community is turning to Secure Digital cards.
It seems that Sony and other third parties arenow rather aggressive in making accessories for CLIEs especially since they use the same base connector. Several keyboards have been released for CLIE PDAs. Sony makes several accessories for their models. This includes an MP3 attachment (that I feel is rather useless) and the external AA battery pack attachment (extremely useful but very expensive accessory). The accessory market has expanding quite nicely for Sony PDAs.
Software
Well Sony provided a multitude of software both full versions and trial versions of software... mostly trial software. You cannot load everything on the CLIE CD since your SJ22 does not have the memory for all of it! For some reason, Sony no longer bundles Docments to Go with the SJ22 like it did with the SJ30. You do get full version of Kinoma player. However, when I look at what's on the CD, an enormous chunk of the programs are trial versions.
Build Quality Issues
The most common problem I've seen with the SJ22 is the failure of the power button on the top of the unit. This was a common problem however.
Older Sony units have had issues with their build quality. Several of my friends had issues with the power button breaking on their S300/S320/S360 models. Quite a few have had their Sony PDA stop running/turning on after 3-6 months of use. Remember their is only a 90 day warranty on many Sony PDAs. I've also seen my fair share of cracked digitizer screens on Sony PDAs as well... again on older units.
Other Minor Problems
Another issue for me is the ultra thin stylus... it doesn't feel comfortable in the hands... at least my hands. Second, the slot in the SJ22 (and just about all the T/SJ series units too... the NR/NX/NZ was better in this regard) is very loose fitting of the stylus... the stylus still often slides out of the unit if you turn it upside down. A good jerk with still launch the stylus out of its silo towards the unsuspecting person in front of you with good enough speed too! Sheesh... a package of 3 new styli costs $15 too! Yes, Sony standardized the stylus for all their units. The stylus has a solid construction however.
Conclusions
The SJ22 is a solid and cost effective unit. The only direct competitor is the Palm m130 and the more expensive Palm m515 models. All of these units fall into a similar price catagory and sport similar features. The m130 has only 8MB and lower resolution display... the m515 has a lower resolution display (160x160) and cost on average $100 more.
I consider the SJ22 unit highly recommended as a midrange PDA especially if MP3s are not a priority for you. It performs basic organizer functions well and allows decent expansion through additional programs and attachable hardware. The SJ22 is a fairly capable unit.
If you like to see more PDA reviews... please check my profile page. My experience is mostly with Palm OS based PDAs from the $99 to $499 price range. I've dabbled with some Pocket PC PDA models as well. The last Pocket PC unit I used was the Dell Axim X5 Advanced unit. The PDA I use currently is the Palm Tungsten C unit.
The Palm OS PDA that I currently most often recommend is the Zire 71 unit although the SJ-22 isn't far behind.
Palm OS version 4.1, DragonBall VZ 33 MHz processor, 16 MB RAM High-resolution TFT color display (320 x 320 pixels) USB (HotSync cable) and Infrared i...More at Amazon Marketplace
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